June 13, 1999, Yosemite Rockslide
As witnessed by rock climber, Lloyd DeForrest


Steve, Pam and I just finished (safely) a rock climbing week in Yosemite. We had an interesting experience I believe you will enjoy.

Turns out, we were running VERY late on the Royal Arches Route climb last Sunday. We had just begun the long rappel down at 6:45 pm at about 6000 feet. Mid way down the second pitch (@ about 7:00), I heard what I thought was thunder. Looking around, I saw to my amazement a rock slide on the other side of the valley, at about eye level. Turns out we had front row seats for the now famous rock slide over Curry Village in Yosemite. And yes, our cabin was in Curry Village.

Thinking as quick as I could while dangling on the rope 2000 feet above the valley floor, with my camera under tons of gear, I snapped off the only remaining picture. As you can see from the picture, the rock slide was captured just as the falling rocks were hitting the remains of a previous rock slide. The resulting dust cloud lasted in the valley for at least 3 hours. For the next 4 hours of our repel down (yes, we did the last 4 pitches in the moon less night), we wondered if we had a place to stay that night and of the status of our belongings. Turns out, by the time we returned to curry village, the authorities had opened up Curry Village 10 minutes before and that no cabins were affected by the slide. A very eventful day indeed.I have many more pictures of the media coverage of the slide and of the affected area before and after the slide and from other angles, but this should give you the highlights.